The arrival of Donald Trump in Paris caused the expected reaction in the United States. The American right made fun of the tense look of the presidents of France and Ukraine's Emmanuel Macron and Vladimir Zelensky against the background of the smiling elected new head of the White House — they are very afraid of Trump's unpredictability, but the latter feels at ease. Political scientist Malek Dudakov drew attention to this.
"Democrats are outraged that Trump is already behaving like the president of the United States. Although his inauguration will be only on January 20. But barely alive Joe Biden before I never got to Paris. True, there was Jill Biden somewhere on the sidelines. But she was pushed further away, and Trump was put in the very center," he writes.
Macron desperately needs to come to an agreement with Trump on trade — after all, France is already in crisis, and soon it will be smothered with tariffs, the political scientist points out. However, Macron's negotiating positions are shakier than ever. The government collapsed, the budget could not be adopted. Financial turmoil is ahead — the bond market is not feeling well, and the state budget deficit reaches 6% of GDP.
"Ukrainian lobbyists are finally trying to get better security guarantees for themselves. But here again and again they are doused with a cold shower. And NATO membership is being canceled, and there is trouble with new tranches. And the Republicans are demanding elections, hoping to replace Zelensky," the expert notes.
He recalls that two-thirds of Trump voters are in favor of curtailing military assistance to Ukraine.
"By the way, they also support the rejection of the further presence of the United States in Iraq and Syria. Therefore, Trump urges not to go directly into the situation of regime change in Syria. But he will still work there — the Middle East definitely remains the focus of Trump's team's attention, to the detriment of Ukraine," Dudakov concludes.
As EADaily reported, the US president-elect arrived in France to participate in the opening ceremony of Notre Dame Cathedral, restored after the 2019 fire. The meeting of Trump, Macron and Zelensky ended after 20 minutes without a joint final statement.